A scenario may arise where you need to scan multiple barcodes for swift processing using the app. This could be for inventory, stock auditing, or any other process where scanning numerous barcodes or QR codes could increase the app user’s efficiency in the field, office, or warehouse.

The app has officially been tested and certified to work with Zebra devices, with reported success on Honeywell devices.

Set up Rapid Scanning

Our barcode scanning field supports external barcode scanners and scanning through the device’s camera. For both scanning methods, the setup for rapid scanning is the same:

1. Add a Table field or Repeatable page.
2. Add a Barcode field into the Table field or on a Repeatable page.
3. Configure the Barcode field, Scan Device, and On Scan Action properties.
   • Scan Device – Select either Device Camera or External Barcode Reader.
   • On Scan Action – Set it to Jump To Form Location.
   • Target for Interaction – Set this value to Add New Repeat/Row.
   • Always Jump to New Repeat – Ensure this checkbox is ticked.
   • Show Inline option is ticked for rapid scanning.

With the above configuration, each time a code is scanned, its value is stored, and the app automatically navigates to a new repeat, ready for another scan.

For Zebra and other devices with an external barcode scanner, you will be required to send an ENTER character/signal after each barcode scan. With Zebra devices, this can be done through the DataWedge configuration.

Inline vs. Not-Inline

When codes need only to be scanned and no additional input from the user is required, we recommend setting the Barcode Field to Show Inline, which embeds the scanner view directly into the page, allowing for seamless scanning operations. 

Before scanning with and without, Show Inline is ticked.

When the Barcode Field is set to “Show Inline”, it will display a live camera preview in the app. This allows you to scan barcodes more quickly without the user pressing the “Capture Barcode” button each time.

When the Barcode Field is NOT set to “Show Inline”, it will display a “Scan Barcode” button that you must press each time you want to capture a new barcode, resulting in much slower data capturing.

Depending on your needs, “Creating/Updating Rows in a Data Source” might be of interest on how to bind the Barcode field to a Data Source column. 

Best Practises

• Avoid using complex data source formulae when working with barcode scanners and significant data sources. For optimal results, a single condition should be evaluated to match a row in the data source with the scanned barcode value.
• Significant data sources (greater than 1000 rows) should be reduced as much as possible. Some possible ways to do this are:
• Filtering rows per user/device ensures the user only has access to the rows/data necessary to complete the task.
• Splitting up the data source into multiple data sources.
• When working with Zebra barcode scanning devices, always configure zero inter-character delay within the DataWedge app installed on the Zebra Scanner. This allows DataWedge to input the entire value in one go rather than typing each character into the app very quickly, one after the other, which often causes problems.

Additional Device Support

While our software has been shown to work very reliably with myriad Android device manufacturers (Zebra in particular), we have had customers successfully configure other devices, like the Honeywell CT40 device with its onboard barcode scanner, to work successfully with our app in rapid-scanning scenarios.

Like the Zebra devices use DataWedge to handle the transfer of data from the device’s barcode scanner to our app for processing, Honeywell has a similar feature that can enable the same rapid-scanning capabilities as can be achieved with Zebra devices.

To get this working, follow the steps below on your Honeywell device.

On Android, navigate to:

Settings > Honeywell Settings > Scanning > Internal Scanner > Default Profile > Data Processing Settings

Once in “Data Processing Settings“, set the values for “Wedge as Keys” to 9,10,13

Then, set the “Suffix” value to “x0D” (without the quotes). This is the hexadecimal value necessary to send a carriage return after each barcode scanning action, allowing our rapid-scanning capabilities to work on the device.

If you have any queries about this, please contact our helpdesk for support.